Amongst The Anarchy
by SuperiorityIsKey
Summary: Under the tyrannical rule of the new minister of magic an underdog and a war heroine will start an uprising. But will they find more than a revolution amongst the anarchy? Dramione
1. Chapter 1

_The wizarding world is under a new Minister. Things have changed. After the murder of George Lockwheeler, the former minister of magic, England was in anarchy. Many believed that death eaters were rising up again. Amongst the panic a new leader arose, one who promised freedom and safety for all, one who promised a world where rebels suffered and the faithful strived, one who promised a better world. The wizarding world was in such a state that they immediately warmed to this new leader and was thrilled when a few years back they read in the Daily Prophet that he was the new Minister of Magic. 'Time for a better world' the papers had read that morning. But how wrong they were, how wrong indeed._

The sharp rain flooded the dirty streets of Diagon Alley. The people sitting on the sides of the road pulled their thin jackets around their head and pushed their money pot further out onto the pavement, in hope that some sympathetic wealthy person might drop a Knut or two into it. But not many of those wealthy people remained now. After the war celebrations were over much had changed, and not for the better.

A man with shocking blond hair knocked on a large wooden door.

"What do you want?" Answered a voice coming from the inside.

"Work. Anything, I'll take anything," Begged the man, "I'll work for very little, please,"

The oak door opened slightly. "Show me your arm," Ordered the voice.

"Sir, plea-"

"I said; show me your arm," Without warning the man behind the door viscously grabbed the blond man's left arm and shoved up his wet sleeve to reveal his forearm, a moment later the arm was forcefully released followed by a loud: "Get out,"

"Sir, please, I beg of you,"

"Get out before I get Bagarre," The man warned. The blond man trembled, Bagarre Fowle was an officer for the new ministry, he was feared by both men and women alike and made it his duty to scare all those below him. He despised beggars and the poor and had absolutely no respect for anyone other than the new minister of magic. Knowing that his threat sent the other man to silence he continued, "What is your name?"

There was silence. "Draco Malfoy, sir," The blond man answered at last. There was no reply from the man, but what seemed like a lifetime later the grand oak door opened fully. The man, who was wearing a dirty brown waistcoat and loose-fitting trousers, grinned showing his decaying teeth and mangled tongue.

"Draco Malfoy," The ugly man snickered before taking a puff from his cigar, "I'd give up looking for work if I were you Draco Malfoy, no one around 'ere will 'ave you. Disgrace to our people," The man spat at Draco's feet and slammed the door on his face.

Draco checked the clock that hung above Gringott's bank and sighed; he had ten minutes until his weekly visit to Saint Mungo's hospital. As he walked towards his destination he went through his day in his mind. All his attempts to find work had proved unsuccessful, one look at the God forsaken ink staining his left forearm and all potential employers would curse the ground he stood on then send him on his way, yet everyday he would attempt to find work all the same, that's what he had been doing the whole day, and not much else.

Not long later he found himself in the reception of Saint Mungo's. Like everything else in the wizarding world Saint Mungo's looked well worn out, cream paint was peeling off the walls and dry mould was spreading like fire across the floors and the doors. The employees matched their surroundings, each of them looking like the walking dead with pale, dry skin, chapped lips and dirty hands and hair. Obviously the patients looked even worse. So much had changed in the last two years. Draco walked up the stairs made of rotting wood up to the top floor named; 'The Mental Health Clinic' and walked up to room 273. Without knocking he shook out his wet hair and trudged into the room.

In the middle of the room a sick looking man lay fidgeting with a quill. Beside him sat a healer who was regularly dabbing his head with a cold flannel.

"Son," The man looked up from the bed and stared at his visitor, he tried to muster up enough energy to give a smile but was unsuccessful.

"Don't 'son' me, Lucius," Draco bit back.

"You are my son so I shall call you son," Lucius Malfoy was the image of the mighty fallen, his usually sleek blonde hair was matter with tendrils sticking to the sweat around his face whilst his formerly malicious blue eyes were now a dull grey and were consumed with pain, worry and most of all, vulnerability.

"We may be born of the same blood, yes, but that does not make you my Father," Retorted Draco, "You have disgraced our family, we have had our fortune stripped and our name has been branded forever as untrustworthy and cruel. I have to look for jobs on the street every single day, and no one will have me because of you,"

"You make it sound like you're the only one who can't get a job, Draco," Lucius replied calmly, "No one can. The daily prophet has written plenty of articles about it recently- 70% unemployment or something. Everyone is out on the streets looking for jobs, if you're going to blame anyone, blame that good for nothing new minister of magic, take all your problems to him."

"Like he would listen, we both know he won't help us," Draco snapped.

"Why are you here?"

"To pay for this week's medication, like a do every damn week," He responded.

"If you claim to despise me so much, why do you insist on paying for my medication?" Asked Lucius, "Why not let me die?"

Choosing to ignore his Father Draco removed ten galleons from his pocket and gave to the nurse, stating it was to pay for his potion and vowing to return the next week to pay for the next batch. Few other words were said before Draco left, Lucius had fallen unconscious like regularly did due to the nature of his illness and for that Draco was thankful as it meant he didn't need to bid his former Father farewell before departing. Draco made it up half way across the corridor before a voice stopped him.

"Wait, Mister Malfoy," Draco turned around to see Lucius' nurse standing in front of him holding a quill and some parchment.

"What?" Draco snapped impatiently.

"I needed to ask you a question," She said quietly, slightly intimidated by the dirty looking but obviously muscular man. Draco looked at her and prompted her to go on by sighing loudly and moving his hand in a circular motion. "Okay, well, about your Father," Draco shot her a warning look, "Sorry, I meant Lucius... Well, sometimes when unconscious he says, well he mumbles really,"

"Hurry up nurse women, I haven't got all day,"

"Right, yes, sorry, sure, I'll go on, yes, right, well, Lucius mumbles potion ingredients sometimes when he is unconscious, I have jotted them down and have checked all potion records and no potions include the ingredients he has listed,"

"And your point is?"

"I was wondering if he was listing ingredients to a potion that a member of your family has created but hasn't officially been listed, I really want to find out what this potion is because I think it would aid his recovery. Here is a list of the ingredients he often says,"

Draco took the parchment the nurse was holding out to him and skimmed the list; from first look he didn't recognise the brew. "Why should I waste my valuable time trying to work this out?"

"You don't have to, sir. But if you do find some time, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you mister Malfoy, I will see you next week."

_**Back at the house at which Draco asked for a job earlier**_

"Who was that, Artemellus?" Asked a young women, aged around twenty-seven, wearing a clean white shirt and a tight, knee-length blue skirt. She was drinking a light brown beverage which one could only presume (or hope) was tea.

"Ex-death eater, wanted to work 'ere, told 'im to sod off," chortled the gross man apparently named Artemellus.

"Anyone who I might know?"

"Draco Malfoy, pretty sure you've 'eard of 'im,"

The girl spat out her tea onto her white shirt and groaned at the mess she'd made before exclaiming: "Draco Malfoy! Begging for work! Holy cricket what has the world come to?"

"The Malfoy family got stripped of all their galleons, left 'em knutless!" Replied Artemellus, who couldn't help but where a little smug grin as he describe the Malfoy misfortune. "Now they 'ave to find work in this stupid place like the rest of us, only being an ex-death eater makes things a little bit 'arder,"

"At least we have jobs," Sighed the girl.

"Speaking o' money, you owe me this month's rent!"

"I can give it to you tomorrow, I swear, the ministry are making cut backs and my department gets hit the most!" Exclaimed the girl.

"By tomorrow, or you're out on the streets, I gotta make a living too 'ermione!"

"By tomorrow, I swear." She sighed. Hermione Granger had returned to Hogwarts to repeat her final year, as she knew good results would help her get a job in the ministry. After leaving school she was quickly headhunted by Kingsley Shacklebolt and was his apprentice for three and a half years, before he tragically died whilst on a mission. However, following his death, she was offered a job at the ministry as a 'junior Auror' and was quickly promoted to 'experienced Auror' only a year later. Once the new Minister came into power her department was drastically reduced, 90% of all Aurors were fired as the new minister believed that they were not needed any longer but a few needed to be kept for purely precautionary reasons. Two years later here she was, working at an extremely low salary, struggling to get by in the horrific new world the Minister of Magic had created. She had considered going back to the muggle world, but having no muggle qualifications would leave her with no job at all so she decided to stay in the magical world.

But amongst her low wage and dirty, rented room above Artemellus' pub she did have some happiness in her life. Harry and Ginny had married earlier that year and had a child on the way; they were living comfortably in a small wizarding town near Oxford, living off the money the old ministry had given them as a thank you gift after the war. She had been offered the same but gracefully declined it. Ronald was doing less well, but compared to the majority of the people in Magical England he had a rather pleasant life. He had bought a small farm shop in Hogsmeade which kept and sold, he really liked chicken. He would often ask Hermione out to dinner but she was insistent on keeping it as a friendly affair, nothing romantic. Other than those three Hermione had lost contact with everyone else from Hogwarts, occasionally she would receive a letter from Luna, who had moved to Italy, describing her Italian antics but other than that the Hogwarts years were really a thing of the past. Her only other friend was Meredith, a tall girl with dirty blond beach waves and deep green eyes to die for, they had met at work and had immediately click, they spent most of their time discussing Jane Austen novels, which suited them just fine. And then there was Artemellus, her landlord, who was a ghastly man with no sense of personal space or personal hygiene. Every night he would bring in the wealthy men of London and get them to try some of his special Firewhiskey and when they sufficiently inebriated her would rob them of their treasures and send them out onto the street. On the other hand, he did genuinely seem to care for Hermione's welfare and often offered her a free goblet of butterbeer when she returned back to the grotty building after work.

Before stating that she would like to go to bed, she quickly washed up her cup using a quick spell, and then she climbed upstairs into her small, drab room and collapsed onto her neatly made bed.

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	2. Chapter 2

Hermione was sitting silently at her desk, twiddling her thumbs. There wasn't any work for her to do but she still had three hours until she was allowed to leave for the day. She looked around her shared office and her eyes landed on her co-worker, Aaron. She often found herself staring at Aaron, he was a fine specimen with intense azure eyes and dark chocolate hair that fell to just above his eyebrows making him the topic of all the women's gossip- Hermione couldn't judge those women, though, as she mostly agreed with what they were saying but just choose not to vocalise her thoughts. Anyway, he was also invariably kind and one of the only people in Hermione's department that she actually liked. On top of that he was smart, witty, caring, sweet, polite, sensitive, inspiring, interesting, motivational, punctual, sensible and, of course, as gay as the day is long. Typical. He looked up from the piece of parchment which a second ago he was reading with interest.

"You okay over there Hermione?" He said, flashing Hermione a bright pearly smile.

"Oh yes, good, a bit bored," She replied as she showed him her notebook full of swirly doodles, stars and love hearts.

"Agreed," He said, "Not much work for us Aurors anymore. Oh, look out; an owl's coming your way!" Hermione looked up to the window where a small grey owl sat perched on the ledge with a roll of paper attached to its feet, she recognised the owl immediately and fed it a special treat reserved for that owl in particular. She removed the letter from the bird and received an affectionate nibble to her hand before the beautiful creature flew off. She unravelled the scroll and was pleased to see an exceptionally long letter from Luna Lovegood.

"Who's it from?" Asked Aaron, who seemed genuinely interested.

"A friend from school, Luna Lovegood," She replied.

"Doesn't she write for the quibbler?"

"Yes, she does, do you read it?"

"Yes, I find it interesting, but also highly unrealistic due to the old fashioned mythological creatures often featured in it. But I find her writing style is completely flawless and attention-grabbing," He said intelligently. Hermione internally sighed and silently wished that he didn't bat for the other side. All of a sudden Nancy strode into the room, wearing her usual expression which made her look like she was in great pain.

"Just so you know, we have a meeting in two minutes," She droned in her annoying voice.

"What! Why didn't you tell us earlier?" Hermione almost shrieked.

"Dunno, I probably forgot," Nancy replied, not really putting much thought into her answer. She shrugged then excited the office. Hermione and Aaron rolled their eyes and laughed when they saw the other do the same thing, after they quickly packed up folders and parchment for the impromptu meeting and rushed off to where they supposed the meeting would be held.

They quietly but hastily entered the room and sat down in their seats , everyone was staring at them. Hermione looked around the room containing every member of the Auror department and cursed under her breath when she saw the Minister of Magic himself sitting in a leather chair at the head of the table.

"Mr Levi, Miss Granger, how pleasant of you to join us," He said whilst he glared at the tardy pair, "Sorry, was this meeting scheduled at a bad time for you two, next time please do tell me so I can change the time of it, because, after all, I base my whole life around the pair of you. I would be devastated if you weren't happy. In fact, I think everyone in this blasted ministry should rearrange their entire schedule so that it pleases the two of you, don't you think?" His voice was thick with sarcasm and his eyes were sending daggers to the pair of them. Hermione and Aaron looked down at the table below them, neither of them saying a word. "Don't you think?" The minister repeated, this time more forcefully.

"No, sir," They murmured in unison.

"Then try to turn up on time, for once," He shouted loudly, causing the whole room to shake. Inside Hermione was fuming, she was _never_ late. She was only late today because of that blasted Nancy and her infuriatingly forgetful mind. However she kept quiet, she needed to keep her job after all, "Good," He continued, "Now that's out of the way I have an announcement, the ministry is spending too much money on pointless things, so we're going to fire half of your department. Savvy?" A shocked gasp echoed around the room from all the Aurors.

This was the last straw for Hermione, "Excuse me, _sir_, but Aurors are the most valuable people in the whole ministry, why are we getting hit the hardest?"

The silence was deafening. The Minister of Magic glowered at her, his left eye twitching ever so slightly. At last he spoke. "Don't flatter yourself. Aurors are the least valuable in the ministry, we simply have no need for them anymore,"

"What! That's nonsense! There are still plenty of death eaters who aren't locked up yet. Who's going to protect the people?" She was losing her temper now, forgetting that her job was everything, forgetting that if she was fired she would be out on the streets.

"Foolish girl, that's why we have street officers now! They will stop any crimes,"

"And what about all this extra money that the ministry is making? Where's it all going?" She asked fiercely.

"I have made my announcement, and that's the end of it. Meeting dismissed. Granger stay behind, you and I need to have a little chat," Everyone in the room quickly left, careful not to disturb the minister to save their own necks. Hermione sat grudgingly in her chair, waiting for the minister to start shouting at her. He walked slowly up to her and then stopped right behind her back.

"If I were you I'd hold my tongue," He began, "If I were you I wouldn't be where I'm not wanted. If I were you I'd keep my head down and work. That's what I'd do if I valued my job." He fell silent for a moment, "You may leave."

She hastily left the office, it took all she had in her not to slam the door in protest.

She returned to her desk and was greeted by a sympathetic Aaron, she quickly told him it was nothing and that she wasn't in trouble, he quickly let the topic drop and returned to the piece of parchment he was reading so intently earlier. Trying to banish thoughts of the disastrous meeting from her head she picked up the letter Luna has sent her earlier and began reading it. She found it highly amusing, Aaron was right, she had a way of writing that was so fun yet informative. She read all the way down to the bottom, chuckling at something funny she had written about walking into the men's bathroom. Then two words a couple of lines below caught her eye, two words she didn't really expect to see in one of Luna's letters, 'Blaise Zabini'. In confusion she read the sentence that included those two lines; 'By the way, I went on a date with Blaise Zabini' it read. Hermione gasped loudly, dropping the letter slightly melodramatically onto the desk. Aaron peered at her with a questioning look on his face, she waved him off. She always thought that she was a bit bizarre but she never expected her to date a man whom she expected to grow up to have a successful career in stripping! She didn't have long to ponder over the strange letter as her good friend Meredith walked into the office with tear stains under her eyes.

"They fired me!" She sobbed as she ran over to fall into Hermione's open arms which were ready for a hug.

"How dare they?" Said Hermione under her breath, "Listen to me Mere, you are a brilliant Auror, the new minister is stupid! He's firing people so he can keep the spare money for himself, I know it. He isn't helping the people, there are no jobs for anyone anymore, or money for that matter, all the towns are falling apart because he won't pay for repairs and, worst of all, he has employed these stupid officers to replace us Aurors! He needs to go!"

Before Meredith could answer Nancy walked into the room holding a slip of paper, she passed it to Hermione quickly and then left. It didn't take long for Hermione to read it. She was fired too. She noticed that attached to the slip was her last pay cheque. In her mind Hermione was making a little plan, an important plan, and an especially ambitious plan- even for her! It would teach the Minister a thing or two, she'd thought.

"Oh, Hermione, I'm so sorry," Meredith said, staring down at the note not too dissimilar to the one she'd received only a few minutes ago.

"Well, that makes two of us," Hermione sighed. "Wanna go to the pub, the one under where I live? Artemellus will give us a few free drinks!"

Meredith sighed and then nodded, they would both need a bit of alcohol down them to wash away the pain for a bit. So together they packed their separate desks and apparated back to Artemellus' pub, when they arrived Hermione gave half of her final pay cheque to Artemellus stating that it was to pay her rent, she would mention to him tomorrow that she would need to move out. But now she merely just explained that she'd been fired and he immediately gave the two girls a shot of some dubious looking yellow liquid, it burned their throat causing them to cough and splutter but after that they felt a little less sad and little more calm. Artemellus was about to pour them another shot when he heard a harsh knock coming from the door, he checked the clock and saw that he wouldn't be opening for another hour yet.

"Probably another bloody beggar," He mumbled, "get the door with ya 'ermione!"

Hermione walked downstairs as they were all sitting in the living room on the second floor of the attached Diagon alley house. She made her way over to the door and opened it, she sighed as she saw a muscular but dirty man with pale blond hair look up at her, just another beggar, no one special.

"Wait, what the hell!" Shouted the beggar, causing her to jump nearly a mile.

"Excuse me?" She inquired, stepping back as if the man were about to kill her.

"You don't live here!" He said loudly.

"What are you talking about? Who are you?" She asked fiercely.

"This is the pub, why are you here? It doesn't open yet! You must live here! Oh Merlin, you're married to Artemellus aren't you! Didn't really put him down as your type Granger!" said the beggar man quickly.

"Who are you?" She practically shouted.

"Draco Malfoy!" He practically shouted back.

Hermione's eyes had never been wider. Nor had her mouth been more open. But then she suddenly began to laugh, "Oh how the mighty has fallen, let me take a moment to treasure the fact that Draco Malfoy is poor like the rest of us"

"Shut it Granger, this isn't funny," He said seriously, causing Hermione to lose her smirk a little, "It's hard out there you know, for me,"

"Ugh save me your sob story," Hermione groaned, "It's hard for all for us so be quiet,"

"I see you haven't changed much, still bossy, insensitive and offending," Sneered Draco.

"Neither have you, still a drama-queen and still trying to get people to pity you. By the way, I am _not _married to Artemellus, he's my land lord," She said calmly.

"You must be with Weasley then," He concluded.

"No, actually, I'm single,"

"They shouldn't allow you to where a skirt that short," Draco said, changing the subject entirely. Hermione tried to work out if he was attempting to somewhat complement her or insult her, she decided on the latter. As if reading her mind he then said, "That was meant to be an insult by the way. No man should have the burden of having to see that much of your legs,"

"I see you haven't matured in the slightest," Hermione bit back, she couldn't believe that after all these years and all that he had been through with his money being stripped away he was still an insufferable prat.

"Oh, I see you work for the ministry," He said ignoring her comment. His eyes were fixed on the ministry badge pinned to her shirt, "So you're part of the organisation which is ruining everyone's lives?"

"Not any more, they fired me," She said, now almost proudly.

"Wow, for once they actually did something that I approve of!"

"Anyway, I see you hate the ministry just as much as I do,"

"There is no one and nothing I hate more to be honest,"

"Then maybe you can help me,"

"Oh, the almighty Granger wants my help, this is too overwhelming for a Tuesday!" He said in mock shock. "What is it you desire?"

"I want you to help me destroy the ministry."

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